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Needler
A Needler is a silent and deadly ranged weapon that uses both laser power and needles crafted from a form of crystallised neurotoxin to kill its targets. Needlers have a long and bloody history, having been utilised by Mankind for millennia. These deadly weapons were favoured by the assassins of the Terran Courts during the days before Unification. Needle pistols are sophisticated and elegant handguns whose operation is silent, invisible and deadly. The finest examples use a combination of a flash-less laser to pierce flesh, followed by an impellor-shot of virulent poisons delivered instantaneously into the open wound. This combination can lay low the roughest foe with ruthless efficiency. Operation Needler weapons fire a laser bolt like the lasgun to propel the toxic sliver and penetrate any armour. A millisecond after, it fires the needle. The laser bolt melts and cuts through armour, leaving the skin (or other vulnerable parts) exposed for the needle, which knocks out or kills the target with a virulent neurotoxin. A Needler is a silent weapon and the needle of neurotoxin is so fine that its target often does not even feel it penetrate his or her flesh.The crystallised toxin dissolves immediately upon contact, is extremely fast-acting and takes effect almost immediately. s.]] The laser component of the Needler operates on an invisible wavelength of light and thus cannot give away the positon of its user. A multitude of different toxins can be used with a Needler, though the most common are deadly neurotoxins, sedatives which only render the target unconscious and intoxicants which can stupefy the target or make him amenable to interrogation without rendering him fully unconscious. A Needler is a valuable weapon which needs specialised ammunition and maintenance -- even more so than the Sniper Rifle Lasgun -- and is therefore usually reserved for elite sniper units of the Astra Militarum or the shadowy Assassins of the Officio Assassinorum. Needler Types *'Needler Sniper Rifle' - This Needler is a rifle-sized weapon that has the highest accuracy of any Needler weapon. It is used by Space Marine Scouts, Aeldari Rangers and Ratling snipers of the Astra Militarum. *'Needle Pistol' - The Needle Pistol is the most commonly employed form of Needler. Small and elegantly crafted for concealment, it is a common weapon amongst the Imperial Assassins of the Officio Assassinorum, particularly for the Eversor Assassins. *'Needler Digital Weapons' - These Needlers are miniaturised versions of the weapon that can be implanted within a cybernetic limb or otherwise concealed. Because of their size, they are the least accurate forms of the weapon and can only be useful at very close ranges. *'Belasco Galvian Needler' - A known Needler variant of dubious provenance, the Belasco Galvian Needler was created by the Belasco Deathworks, the manufactora of the powerful House of Belasco on the Hive World of Malfi located in the Calixis Sector. This advanced and elegant Needle Pistol is designed for close-range work. The pistol also has the dubious distinction of being the weapon used for the infamous murder of Cardinal Tyndale and a dozen other deacons and priests of the Ecclesiarchy at the famed "sorrowful matins" massacre on Gallowglass, the deliberate infection of the lauded High Lady Alatia of House Krin with Mori immedicabalis, and numerous other high profile killings over the years. This has lead to the House of Belasco being denounced from the Ministorum cathedral pulpit as "sinful deathmongers" on several occasions, a claim the Belasco family have not deigned to refute. For an additional 300 Thrones (the primary Imperial currency in use in the Calixis Sector and many others), a modified Galvian Needler can be bought that is fitted on a special hidden rig and worn on the user’s forearm, fired by means of a special palm trigger. Sources *''Codex: Genestealer Cults'' (8th Edition), pp. 102, 105 *''Codex: Inquisition'' (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 138 *''Dark Heresy: Core Rulebook'' (RPG), pg. 138 *''Dark Heresy: The Inquisitor's Handbook'' (RPG), pg. 110 *''Rogue Trader: Core Rulebook'' (RPG), pp. 129-130 *''The Horus Heresy - Book One: Betrayal'' (Imperial Armour), pg. 231 *''Warhammer 40,000: Wargear'' (2nd Edition) *''Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader'' (1st Edition), pg. 78 Gallery Archaic Needle Pistol.jpg|Archaic Needle Pistol Needle Pistol2.jpg|A Needle Pistol Belasco Glavian Needler.jpg|Belasco Glavian Needler Category:N Category:Imperial weapons Category:Imperial Assassins Category:Imperium Category:Weapons